On May 9, 11:16 pm, "Clive D. W. Feather" c...@on-the-
train.demon.co.uk wrote:
In article , Tom
Anderson writes

At Euston the two branches of the Northern Line are approximately at
right angles.

This turns out to be wrong - see below.

The CX branch runs along Eversholt Street,
Whereabouts does it head over to Tottenham Court Road, if i may ask?

It runs under Drummond Street.

while the Bank branch takes a large loop, converging with the CX
branch just south of Camden Town.

It runs roughly in a straight line from the junction of Stanhope Street
and Granby Terrace northish to Camden Town.

I was wondering, as i was sat on it this morning, whether it would be
possible to construct a connector between the Bank and CX branches
around about Euston, so that they could act as two arms of a loop, with
trains running Kennington - Bank - Euston - Charing Cross - Kennington
and vice versa. Based on what you say, perhaps not.

Not really, since it would have to miss Euston.

If so, though, it could be a useful way of focusing trains on the
termini-to-town section of the line, which i assume is the most heavily
loaded,

I'm not totally convinced it's enough busier, though there's a fair
number get off at KXSP northbound in the evening peak.

either for extra trains during the peaks (which wouldn't need to
negotiate the delay-inducing Camden Town chicanery)

Why "delay-inducing"? The junctions are designed so that all possible
non-conflicting moves can be done simultaneously.

... it seems that it might be plausible.

[...]

I've now dug out more detailed material. The northbound CX branch under
Drummond Street is almost exactly in line with the southbound Bank
branch under Euston itself.

The Bank branch platforms are centered on Eversholt Street. The
southbound is under Doric Way and the northbound is 60m away, under the
southern edge of the main Euston station (almost mid-way between Doric
Way and Grafton Place). The CX platforms are at about 20 degrees to
them. Their western end is under Cardington Street and the eastern under
under Euston, about 100m north of the southern edge of the main
building. The southbound Bank crosses under these platforms about 40m
from their western end at about 30 degrees to them; the northbound
crosses about 20m west of that end at about 45 degrees. The two tunnels
converge under the intersection of Coburg Street and Star Street.

The CX branch runs under Drummond Street to North Gower Street, then in
a curve radius 170m to meet Hampstead Road at the northern edge of
Euston Road. [The Victoria Line crosses Coburg Street 20m north of
Euston Street and then runs in a straight line to the point where
Hampstead Road crosses the Euston Road underpass.

Running east, the Bank branch southbound is straight for 220m from the
platforms to Ossulston Street, then curves for 80m to a point under the
middle of the northern edge of the British Library; the northbound
leaves the Euston Loop at the same point, crossing under the Victoria at
Chalton Street, 40m south of the southbound. It then runs 90m east and
crosses Midland Road about 180m north of Euston Road; this is where the
King's Cross Loop comes off it. It's then 110m to the western end of the
KXSP platforms, which is 20m west of the east edge and 70m/50m north of
the southern edge of St.Pancras main building. The southbound platform
and track is in a straight line to run under Pentonville Road; the two
platforms end about 80m west of York Road, almost directly under the
northbound Piccadilly. The northbound platform is about 20m south of the
southbound; the two tunnels converge about 160m east of the station.

Hmm. That map implies that the northbound City track passes *under* the
Victoria line, whereas this cut-away drawing:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...9/lteusmod.jpg

Shows it passing *over* it. Anyone know which is right?

I'm sure it goes under - look at the escalators and work out what the
gradient would have to be for it to go over.



I am not so sure about this last bit. Apart from the fact that Quail
shows the Northern City going over the Victoria, it also has to level
with the Charing Cross branch at Camden, whereas the Victoria has to
go under the Charing Cross branch. Maybe the Victoria also dives down
a bit to make it possible.